How The 'Napoleon Dynamite' Cartoon Is Different From The Movie

[Brian Damage]

In 2004, the indie film "Napoleon Dynamite" took the movie world by storm, and its main character Napoleon turned into an awkward cultural phenomenon. Eight years later, Fox is rebooting the cult favorite into a cartoon called "Napoleon Dynamite: The Animated Series." The cartoon and movie will have a lot in common, as the entire original cast will be lending their voices to the show. But as "Napoleon" star Jon Heder told "Good Day LA" (weekdays, 7 a.m. PT on Fox) there will be some significant stylistic differences between the movie and new show.

Many of the movie's laughs came from its unique dialogue, bizarre characters and an overall vibe of awkwardness. Heder explained that on "this show, we actually have jokes ... it's gonna be a weird hybrid, because the movie didn't really have jokes. I'm not trying to say it wasn't funny, but there wasn't a typical writer's table [where] they were writing jokes. [Now] every minute we gotta nail a joke here, nail a joke here."

Heder described a few more aspects of the cartoon's creative process that they're doing differently in the show than the movie. Since he's now pretty much the definitive authority on all things Napoleon, Heder's been having fun tweaking some of the dialogue the writers send his way. "It's actually good, because there's some ad-lib, and we'll change words around. It's like, 'Okay, this is what the writers wrote, I'll say it to humor you guys,'" he joked.

That familiarity with the characters and their unique dialects has also meant that the actors don't have to physically be in the studio together to nail their lines. "When I'm reading and see Pedro talking on the script, I know exactly how that sounds," Heder said.

"Napoleon Dynamite" premieres with two episodes on Sun., Jan. 15 at 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. EST on Fox.

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